The Legends of Checkers

Competitive checkers has a rich history of legendary players, dramatic matches, and pivotal moments. These famous games and players shaped the game into what it is today.

Marion Tinsley: The Greatest Player

A Record Like No Other

Marion Franklin Tinsley (1927–1995) is universally considered the greatest checkers player in history. His record is almost beyond belief:

  • World Champion from 1955 to 1991 (with brief interruptions)
  • Lost only 7 games in his entire 45-year competitive career
  • His dominance was so complete that finding willing challengers was difficult
  • Mathematics professor by profession, checkers genius by nature

Tinsley’s Playing Style

Tinsley was known for:

  • Extraordinary calculation — he could see further ahead than any human opponent
  • Perfect endgame technique — opponents knew that reaching an endgame against Tinsley meant they’d already lost
  • Unwavering concentration — he maintained focus over multi-game matches spanning days
  • Sportsmanship — respected and admired by all who played him

The “Sixth Sense”

Tinsley was famous for occasionally making moves based on what he called a “sixth sense” — an intuition developed over decades of play. In his match against Chinook, he made a move that the computer’s analysis later confirmed was the only winning move, even though Tinsley couldn’t have calculated the full line.

Tinsley vs. Chinook: Man Against Machine

The First Match (1992)

The most famous checkers match in history pitted Marion Tinsley against Chinook, a checkers program developed by Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta.

  • 39 games played
  • 4 wins for Tinsley
  • 2 wins for Chinook
  • 33 draws

Tinsley won the match 6–2 (counting wins only). But the real significance was that a computer had beaten the world champion in two games — it had never happened before.

The Second Match (1994)

Tinsley and Chinook met again, with Chinook significantly improved. After 6 drawn games, Tinsley withdrew from the match due to illness. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away in 1995.

The title was left vacant, and Chinook claimed it by default — one of the most bittersweet moments in competitive gaming history.

Solving Checkers (2007)

After Tinsley’s death, the Chinook team continued their work. In 2007, Jonathan Schaeffer and his team announced they had solved checkers.

What “solved” means:

  • They proved that with perfect play from both sides, the result is always a draw
  • The proof required computing the value of 39 trillion positions
  • It took 18 years of computation (starting in 1989)
  • Checkers became the most complex game ever solved

This was a landmark achievement in artificial intelligence and game theory.

Other Notable Players

Asa Long

  • Youngest world champion — won the title at age 18 in 1922
  • Oldest world champion — regained the title at age 79 in 1984
  • One of the most remarkable careers in any competitive pursuit

Tom Wiswell

  • American champion and one of the most respected players of the mid-20th century
  • Author of numerous checkers books
  • Famous for his maxims about checkers strategy

Derek Oldbury

  • British champion who dominated European checkers for decades
  • Prolific author and promoter of the game
  • His books remain standard references for serious players

Walter Hellman

  • World champion from 1948 to 1955
  • Known for deep positional understanding
  • His reign ended when Tinsley took the crown

Why These Games Matter

The great checkers games and matches demonstrate that beneath its simple rules lies a game of extraordinary depth. Marion Tinsley’s near-perfect record, his epic battle against the computer, and the eventual solving of checkers are among the most fascinating stories in the history of competitive games.